Serendipity

I am amazed at all of the serendipitous aspects of our adoption process so far.  Money has, of course, been the big question mark in the process all along.  And yet at every turn, there have been little exclamation points to answer that question mark.  People we haven’t seen or talked to in ages have given toward our adoption. People we’ve never even met have contributed.  Everything we read about adoption funding said, “you’ll be surprised and humbled by who God uses to help you bring your child home.”  We knew to expect those surprises, but we have still been overjoyed and overwhelmed by the vastness of our little village.  To you all who have helped make our adoption possible and to those who will continue to surprise and humble us, thank you!

Not only have we been able to continue to save toward the adoption (with a little help from our friends and from beautiful strangers alike), we’ve just recently encountered what I would call a helping hand from God.  Some might call it a series of coincidences or a stroke of good luck, but regardless it is a great story.  To make a long story short, we managed to stumble into a situation that actually meets our needs and desires, but also will save us at least $10,000 on the adoption!

It started when one of Michelle’s coworkers referred us to a social worker to do our home study.  For those of you who don’t know, every family trying to adopt has to have a home study completed by a certified professional, so we knew we’d have to find someone to do the home study.  Michelle’s coworker, who is an adoptive parent, recommended a person from our home town to do the home study.  The fact that this person came highly recommended was great, but the fact that she works and lives in our home town seals the deal. 

A bit later in our home study process we found out that my parents have known our home study provider for almost as long as I’ve been alive!  We had no idea about this connection prior to the home study.  In our conversations with our social worker, she suggested that we should, in addition to considering our national agency, consider a couple of local attorneys in the Upstate who are well-respected and experienced.  Michelle talked a bit about the family fair we attended in the post below.  We found out we have a number of personal connections with the attorneys.  Again, another little “coincidence.”

Still, we had a lot of questions for these lawyers.  The agency we were working with offers services to birthmothers, advertising services, and nationwide placements.  One of the attorneys we met with offers all of this, as well.  The agency has a low disruption rate (low incidences of the adoption not going through once placement is made)—the attorney we met with has a slightly lower rate.  The agency does a large number of placements per year (300 or so, with a large nationwide pool of potential adoptive parents)—the attorney we met with does 60-80 placements per year and actually has a shortage of potential adoptive parents right now. The agency offers limited financial risk should an adoption disrupt; the attorney offers a very comparable level of financial protection.

The attorney and agency compare favorably in all the areas that are important to us.  Of course, we know the attorney personally now and feel like we would have someone working for us and someone close to home instead of halfway across the country.  It also helps that he is a passionate adoption advocate and an adoptive parent of two children—he’s not in it for the money and he is comfortable talking about adoption as a calling. So we had a good feeling about all of this and we were beginning to lean toward changing to work with the attorney instead of the agency.

But what really sealed the deal is that the attorney costs will be $30,000 (or maybe even a bit less) instead of $40,000.  That’s a huge difference!  It boils down to several things—lower overhead, lower cost for the profile (no video to make and have edited), lower advertising costs and fees, and less inflated legal fees since we’re cutting out the middle man, so to speak, and working directly with the attorney.  

As an added benefit, since we’re working with a local attorney, he can handle most out-of-state adoptions under our state's jurisdiction which can be helpful when working in states that have very persnickety or archaic laws.

Needless to say, we’re excited about this series of fortuitous events!  We’re even more excited that we have less money to save up.  That means that we should be able to get our child even more quickly!  It also means that any gift you give makes an even bigger impact and helps us toward our goal that much faster!  Continue to celebrate with us, ask us questions, give us words of encouragement, and if you feel called to do so, donate today!

-Andrew